We had ocarinas in kindergarten. I, too, got ne in my stocking in the late '40s.

Other things from long ago: post-war margarine in plastic envelopes with the dark orange spot in the center. Cars with the starter pedal on the floor. Bazooka gum for a penny a piece. Paint that was thinned with turps and never came off your fingers. Men who worked with hand-tools that had no electricity, cutting boards with hand-saws and drilling pilot-holes with hand-braces, to set screws with hand-powered screw-drivers. Boys (including me) who built soap-box scooters out of handy scraps of timber,. Roller skates with keys. Christmases when people actually went caroling.


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